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DO NOT READ WITHOUT READING THE RECENT CHAPTERS OF THE MANHWA (UNTIL CHAPTER 47)



People hate Lucio too much but he really isn't a bad person. Except for making Patrizia queen because she's infertile, everything else was Rosemond's doing. Petronilla was executed because of Rosemond and Lucio didn't even know she did it until evidence proved otherwise. He's a great emperor despite his emotional disposition. Unless you read the novel, you probably won't be able to realize that.

Also let me point out that Lucio in the previous timeline was an affection-craving fool but in this timeline, he is more self-aware and in denial because he knows Rosemond doesn't love him. Although he didn't show it at the beginning, he was actually having doubts about her. This is because Rosemond also has memories of the past and her self-awareness of her past mistakes altered her personality. I'm quite sure she truly loved Lucio despite manipulating him in the past timeline but in the present, she's so focused on becoming queen that it became her downfall in the end.

(LUCIO)
The previous emperor (Lucio's father) was married to Alisa, the daughter of the most powerful Duke in the kingdom. But Alisa was infertile and at the same time the emperor's concubine, Janet, gave birth to an heir. As a queen who could not give birth, Alisa was basically useless so she decides to take Janet's son as her own. But the truth was that she just wanted to fuse her jealousy and abuse the kid; physically, emotionally, and sometimes sexually as well. Lucio grew up believing Alisa was his mother and didn't understand why she treated him like that. Days before his birthday, Alisa called Lucio to the courtyard telling him she had a gift for him (Lucio never once celebrated his birthday so he was excited). When Lucio arrived, Alisa threatened him to kill a person hidden underneath a white veil. He refused but then she began to beat him up until he gave in. With a sword she gave him, he stabbed the person under the veil multiple times. Alisa, laughing crazily, then reveals that she wasn't his real mother and that the person Lucio killed was Janet, his biological mother. At that time the emperor was away from the palace so when he came back, Alisa was dethroned from her status as queen and Lucio was never the same again.

(ROSEMOND - warning mention of sexual assault)
Rosemond is the daughter of a prostitute and a Baron. When she was 10, her biological mother was killed by the Baroness then the Baron took her in. She was treated like a maid and abused in the estate. At one point, her half-brother began to see her as a woman and so he raped her. Rosemond wanted to become queen in order to not only destroy the Baron's household but to also eliminate anyone who judged her for her commoner background. That's when Rosemond decided to "coincidentally" meet the emperor and share her painful story with him. Because of that, Lucio sympathized with her, and her plot to becoming queen began.

(DUKE EPHRENY)
(by order of nobility: duke, marquis, count, viscount, baron)
Duchess Ephreny was the daughter of a Marquis and Duke Ephreny was the son of a Baron. When they were younger, he seduced her, spiked her drink, and raped her. When she became pregnant, she decided to marry him because she had no memories of the rape and was convinced she loved him. Keep in mind though, that Duchess Ephreny is a blood descendent of the Ephrenys so she has a general claim of all rights and wealth while her husband is only powerful because of his wife's last name. Soon after the Duchess bore a son and her husband went from Marquis to Duke. The reason he was able to gain such a high title was because he manipulated the previous empress Alisa. Because of him, Alisa began to hate Janet (Lucio's biological mother) which ultimately lead to her forcing Lucio to kill his own mother. Rosemond knows about this because of her past memories, so she uses it to blackmail Duke Ephreny.

There are 3 pillars in the kingdom. The chancellor of the three was the Dukedom of Oswins (empress Alisa's house). But because Ephreny manipulated the previous empress Alisa into committing treason, Duke Oswins secluded himself. This gave way for the Dukedom of Ephreny to climb to the top. Thus, Rose being adopted makes her a high-status woman of the empire, second only to Patrizia. Rosemond's plan is to become Princess of Ephreny, announce that Patrizia is infertile, and work to becoming queen dowager. She basically plans to become a widowed queen where she gets rid of Lucio after bearing his child in order to gain an immediate legal claim of the throne, through giving birth to the heir.

Patrizia and Lucio grow increasingly close especially when she sees Lucio hurting himself due to a psychological attack in the next chapter of the manhwa (chapter 48). They also keep coincidentally seeing each other in the garden at night, which is also where Lucio tells Patrizia about his past. This all happens while Rosemond went away to her parent's house so when she came back Lucio began to reject her because he started to side with Patrizia. Everyone who knew about his past would avoid or judge him, but Patrizia pitied him and didn't understand why he was so used to pain. He then falls for her kind and genuine personality as well as her capabilities as queen.

On the evening of the Nation's Founding, Rosemond is officially adopted as Duke Ephreny's daughter. Lucio and Patrizia are both close but awkward with each other, mainly because Lucio is starting to subtly act on his feelings by always being around Patrizia and constantly asking if she's tired or not (yes he's really falling in love with her and infinitely dumping that bimbo) but Patrizia doesn't know how to react to him. But while she's alone, Rosemond appears and suddenly talks about rumors of how Patrizia hadn't slept with Lucio yet. She then asks why Patrizia isn't pregnant yet and claims Patrizia could be infertile which makes Patrizia incredibly furious because infertility is a great taboo (see what happened to late empress Alisa) among the public. And with their culture (especially considering she's the queen) it defines her dignity as a woman as well. Patrizia slaps Rosemond a couple of times out of anger after she proposes they both have a fertility test to find out the truth. After the fight, Lucio pulls Rosemond away to talk. They argue and break up after Rose admits she was only making use of his trauma and that Patrizia would never love a man who killed his own mother.

Because of Rosemond's scandalous actions, the Council decides to have the fertility test but Patrizia refuses to take it. Lucio keeps desperately urging her to, but Patrizia doesn't listen because she was positive she isn't sterile. That's when she realizes why Lucio was acting strangely desperate. She connects the dots and finds out about Lucio's plan with Rosemond of getting a queen who couldn't give birth. Patrizia feels devastated and betrayed while asking him "How are you any different from empress Alisa?!" then leaves him alone. After returning to her palace, she orders her maids to find a perfume called stereen (?) and gift it to Rosemond. When Rosemond received it, she started using it a lot, thinking it was Patrizia's way of licking her shoes for mercy.

One evening, Rosemond enters Lucio's bedroom and makes Lucio drink an aphrodisiac in order to force him to sleep with her. At this point, Lucio is completely in love with Patrizia even though she absolutely hates him. So he leaves the room to restrain himself because Rosemond wasn't going to leave. By coincidence, he meets Patrizia outside. Seeing his state, Patrizia suggested he slept with Rosemond/maid/any woman in the palace but he didn't want to. So Patrizia decides to help him and they have their first night together.

Petronilla actually has memories of the previous timeline. Patrizia finds this out during Lucio's birthday banquet. Rosemond had changed the traditional birthday flowers to sage - empress Alisa's favorite flowers that by the scent and appearance, could give Lucio severe psychological attacks because of his PTSD. But Petronilla was able to change the flowers to amaryllis and exposes her past memories to Patrizia. Because of that, Patrizia finds confidence in finding a way to kill Rosemond. She was depressed knowing her efforts were wasted because she's infertile, but it became her strength because she realized that she finally had nothing else to lose.

Petronilla has an important role in helping Patrizia expose Rosemond. Because of her, the truth about January (Duke Ephreny's mistress) conspiring with Rosemond will be revealed. In the end, she manages to steal the letters Rosemond sent to January in order to provide them as evidence in court.

Patrizia is confused with her feelings after sleeping with Lucio, so she goes to her parent's home for a visit. On her way back to the palace, she's ambushed by assassins. Patrizia had purposely exposed the fact that she was leaving for her parents' home so she already expected the assassination to happen. And according to the plan, Patrizia has the royal guards save her while she purposely slices her arms and legs with a knife for better effect and to cause an uproar among the people about someone trying to harm the queen. When she returns to the palace, Lucio says it was Rosemond's plan because he heard her talking about the assassination with her maid. Rosemond is again sentenced to execution and Lucio whole-heartedly agrees with it. She tries to get Duke Ephreny to save her but Patrizia and Petronilla had compiled Rosemond's letters to January and sent them to Duchess Ephreny.

The Duchess's son with the Duke had died because of the illness so the Duchess was mentally unstable. And after returning to the empire and reading through the letters about her husband raping her, she kicks January and the Duke out of the mansion. So Rosemond then has no one to save her from execution. Days before her death, Patrizia confronts Rosemond about what she did to Duke Ephreny, January, and basically all her crimes. Rosemond claims she would survive because apparently, she was pregnant with Lucio's child. Patrizia then exposes that the perfume she gave Rosemond as a "gift" before had contained chemicals that could make her infertile. So Rosemond ultimately became infertile as well. After that, Rosemond is killed without delay.

Patrizia tells Lucio that she wants to step down from being queen. Lucio panics and begs her to stay. He always felt like he was alone in the palace but having Patrizia there made him feel like he wasn't (it was a very dramatic and emotional scene ngl. you could practically smell his mental state crumbling) In the end, Patrizia stays in the palace because (1) Lucio, as emperor, wouldn't let her, and (2) it wasn't that simple to just stop being queen.

In an effort to appease her, Lucio asks Petronilla about things Patrizia liked. Because Patrizia liked sweets/chocolate, Lucio asks the chef to teach him how to bake. He then keeps sending sweets to Patrizia that he baked on his own.

Petronilla tells Patrizia to stop staying in the past because her mission to save her family is complete. Petronilla admits that she did love Lucio (in the previous timeline) but it shouldn't stop Patrizia from loving him in the present because Lucio loved Patrizia and she wanted Patrizia to finally live happily. This is when Patrizia decides to accept her feelings for Lucio. Coincidentally that night, Lucio had another psychological attack. Patrizia goes into his room to comfort him and tell him she accepted his feelings. They slept together for the second time, but as lovers.

Anything after that is very fluffy husband-wife moments with Lucio still baking sweets for Patrizia from time to time. There's a scene during Patrizia's birthday banquet where she sees Lucio being seduced by a woman who wanted to be queen but he harshly rejects her. When he realized Patrizia saw him with the woman, he adorably tries to explain the situation frantically. They end up dancing on the balcony, having a steamy kiss, and also watching the fireworks together. Patrizia then, for the first time, tells Lucio that she loved him.

The last chapter of the original story is about Petronilla and Rothesay's wedding. Lucio and Patrizia are attending but in disguise. Other side stories after the main story are about (1) a coup de tat in the previous timeline after Petronilla died, (2) Rothesay's POV when he met Petronilla, and (3) Lucio and Patrizia's family life.

Patrizia and Lucio's family life is about Lucio being forced to choose a concubine in order to produce an heir because Patrizia was "infertile". Patrizia agreed to it but Lucio knew she was hurt and always cried a lot because the one thing she wanted was to have a child with the man she loved. Lucio promised she would be his one and only queen. When Patricia went to do charity, she met this old guy claiming he knew her and asked to see her later. During the concubine selection, Patrizia chose Lady Petunia among the candidates but she turns out to be another bitch that belongs to the street who openly insults Patrizia in front of everyone. Lucio then defends his wife and puts the bitch right where she belongs. Before Patrizia reselects another candidate, the old man from before arrived and exposed himself as the physician who conducted her health documents during the queen selection. Apparently, he heard Rosemond's plan in choosing the queen, so to save his daughter who was one of the candidates, he messed up Patrizia's fertility results.

Patrizia and Lucio then do the deed a lot of times (づ￣ ³￣)づ in order to make babies. Lucio joked about having 10 kids but Patrizia laughed saying it was impossible for her to give birth for 10 straight years. Lucio suggests they keep having twins to limit it to 5 years lol. One month later Patrizia is confirmed to be pregnant. Lucio kept feeding her berries and they kept being lovey-dovey.

Time skip 7 years later their first son Dylan wants to sleep with his mom. Lucio says you only sleep with someone you marry so Dylan says he wants to marry Patrizia. Lucio gets annoyed (cute) so Patrizia tells Dylan to sleep early and get tall because she likes tall people. Lucio has the AUDACITY to feel proud because he thinks he's pretty tall lmao. The three of them end up sleeping beside each other. Dylan then asks how babies were made and Lucio tells him if he wants a brother he should let him and Patrizia "hold hands alone". After that night Dylan keeps giving them time alone (⌒▽⌒)

Another time skip, Dylan has triplets as younger sisters; Regina, Ressie, and Raine. Lucio by this time is already in his 40s but Patrizia still describes her heart beating fast when she's with him despite them being together for 20 years already. Patrizia says none of the emperors throughout history have been as good to their queens as Lucio was to her. But maybe Dylan would break the record and Patrizia was really proud to have him as her son. Lucio also gets jealous since none of their children wanted to marry him, including his triplet daughters. All of them wanted to marry their mom.

The next night it's Patrizia's birthday and she's surprised with gifts. After opening them, the children tell Lucio and Patrizia to kiss. They kissed and lived happily ever after. The END


If you have any questions, feel free to ask. The spoilers here are only the main events in the novel so I skipped out on the minor details that didn't affect the plot drastically.

spoliers ahead, skip if you don't want to read please →→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→

*yuriel & mc are sisters in previous life (korea)
*yuriel was sickly, never got out of the hospital, hated & envied her sister because she believed that her sister was living life with freedom
*mc was actually working multiple jobs to support her medical bills
*yuriel probably died & "god" transmigrated her to this world (she knows this world from a game or novel before)
*yuriel wished for "god" to transmigrate her sister to the villain role of the princess, because she knows the princess to have the worst ending
*meaning yuriel wanted to kill her sister

*og!princess was a drug addict, sex maniac, violent, corrupt, abusive, buys slaves to abuse/kill them = WORST HUMAN BEING EVER
*the king was also guilty of many crimes, and he didn't stop the og!princess with her acts so that he can use her as the scapegoat for his crimes

*mc gets assassination attempts, gets in danger multiple times
*nadricka is actually one of the strongest mages alive, almost burned down the castle when he thought that mc died
*somewhere somehow, "god" meets mc and falls inlove with her

*yuriel returns after banishment, she was able to throw mc to dungeon & becomes the princess
(not really sure what happened here, but I think yuriel has royal blood? idk)
*yuriel throws away the people she used to get her position, basically becoming a tyrant princess
*plans to kill the king to become the only ruler
*the king still dies of poison from yuriel
*BUT yuriel gets killed (with the help of the MLs)

*mc returns to power, but with yuriel dead, error starts and mc is ejected out of the princess' body
*og!princess returns!
*mc has multiple mls at this point, most of them know that mc is not og!princess, and immediately realize that mc is gone
*ANGST
*time for the tyranny of og!princess (she's the only royal alive)

*"god" makes a new body for mc, in exchange for his godhood
*"god" is now human
*mc is now alive in new body

*something happens, mc is reunited with mls, og!princess is removed from the picture
*mc is crowned as emperor
*multiple mls, harem ending BUT it was agreed to have no main husband for equal treatment
*mls have no position in politics, just supporting mc
*mc has 1 confirmed child, a daughter
*the father is "god" (according to recent posts in the forum)

[edit]
ENDING: MULTIPLE ML=HAREM
*note:
"god" was not mentioned in the last volume/final chapters (not sure) of the novel, it was not clear what happened to him at the end. some say he died, some say he disappeared.
but mc lived happily with the remaining mls, daughter is free & happy, too.

This is gonna be a long comment… oh, and SPOILERS!!!!! (reveals final ships)




Ready?


Alright, the gist of the spoilers is that Dani ends up with Jiho. Surprise! Jiho (white hair) is the true ML of the story, not Chunyeong (black hair). Ch 75 just felt like a huge bomb had been dropped. If anything, the story thus far seemed to push Chunyeong as the ML. I honestly thought that the ships were going to be Chunyeong x Dani and Jiho x Yoryeong. It makes sense, doesn’t it? The back and forth banter between Jiho and Yoryeong, the way he looks out for her, their natural chemistry… Same with Chunyeong and Dani. I mean, prior to ch 75, the readers never really realized that Jiho had romantic feelings for her… or did we? (⊙…⊙ )

Prior to my reading the spoilers, I always felt that the dynamic between Jiho and Dani to be… odd. There were small and subtle moments and just the way they interacted that made me question if Jiho had a crush on her. Of course, these moments are not as blatantly obvious as Chunyeong’s with Dani… but they were there. I had to re-read the early chapters to check it again for accuracy. I’m not gonna lie, there’s an abundance of Chunyeong’s moments that easily overshadow Jiho’s, but there are flags nonetheless. ╮(￣▽￣)╭

Ch 7: The story begins when they are in middle school to quickly establish the relationships they have, which also shows Dani meeting Chunyeong first by literally bumping into him (a classic shoujo trope). The story quickly time-skips to when they are about to start freshman year in high school. This time, the first boy that we see interact with her is Jinho. If Chunyeong was the true ML then he should've also been the 1st guy we see her with after the time-skip.

Ch 8: Ju-in happily hugs Dani. Jiho is about to reach out to touch Dani, but Yoryeong cuts in which causes Jiho to look annoyed. These 2-3 panels are overshadowed by the eye contact between Dani and Chunyeong which leads the readers to think about them and not about the small interaction earlier with Jiho.

Ch 21: Chunyeong’s visit to Dani turned sour. Jiho, after hearing from Yoryeong at how depressed she is feeling, calls Dani and offers to hang out with her. He treats her to a café and has an important conversation with her but feels annoyed that Chunyeong went to visit Dani alone and that Dani wanted to know if Chunyeong likes her, which she had to clarify was in terms of friendship. (jealous, much?)

Ch 22: The important conversation continues! Jiho sees through Dani’s doubts but she cannot bring herself to be truthful to him. Instead, she asks that they pretend to be strangers once school starts.

Ch 25: We get a flashback of when Dani went “missing” for a day. After getting her blisters treated by Yoryeong, Dani gets up but loses her balance. She crashes on to or gets caught by Jiho. See, in typical shoujo fashion, it’d be the ML who would play this part so I wondered why it was Jiho instead of Chunyeong.

Ch 28: HK boys and Yoryeong ends up eating samgyupsal with Dani and her parents. Chunyeong suggests staying with Dani until the end of the day so that they won’t disappear. Jiho notices Dani’s tensed expression and suggests to continue the conversation inside. After hearing the story, he concludes this is the reason why she requested that they act like strangers in school. He also looks visibly disturbed when Dani starts crying. It's his reaction that gets screentime, not the others'.

Ch 29: The conversation continues! Jiho realizes the painful situation that Dani would be left in if they all forget her again.

Ch 31: Jiho stands in between Dani and Yoryeong and deliberately teases Dani, only to be stopped by Eunhyung.

Ch 36: Yoryeong calls Dani on her cellphone to interrogate her about the blond-haired boy she saw him with. Ju-in tells Dani that he doesn’t want a new “dad”, but interestingly enough, Jiho is also curious. He snatches Yoryeong’s phone and tells Dani he “wants to see his (blond-haired boy) face”. (jealous?)

Ch 37: Jiho expresses interest again regarding Ruda (blond-haired boy). Dani asks him why he is so curious about Ruda. Jiho hesitates with his answer but then says his question isn’t about Ruda, it’s about whether or not Dani is okay since he heard they were holding hands and stuff. He feels relieved when Dani says she is okay. Dani is perplexed when Yoryeong says that boys who dye their hair can’t be trusted since the HK boys also have sparkling hair in varying colors. There is a panel that specifically shows Jiho’s reaction, showing he is confused as to why Dani is looking at them oddly. I always found it strange that it was his reaction that mattered the most, hence the only one getting a panel drawn while the other HK boys did not.

Ch 42: Jiho arrives at school and notices Yoryeong’s gloomy mood, which he correctly guesses to have something to do with Dani. He has friendly banter with her to presumably cheer her up. But his demeanor changes after he leaves the classroom. He looks for Dani and finds her with Ruda just as the latter blurted out a passionate confession of wanting to become friends. His attitude for the most part is like a boyfriend who just caught his girlfriend meeting with another guy (at least that’s how it looked to me) but then regains his composure by rejecting Ruda on behalf of Dani. He tells Ruda that Dani isn’t attracted to boys whose eyes and hair aren’t black or brown, revealing to Dani that he is aware of her preferences.

Ch 43: Jiho escorts Dani back to her classroom and notices her lack of sleep. His expression throughout this exchange is… unreadable. He is concerned about her but it felt like there was something else. This was another situation that made me ask, “If Cheonyong is the ML, then shouldn’t he be the one in this scene? Why is it Jiho?”

Ch 45: Ah, yes. The first time Jiho brings up the confession. He tells Dani that she was already confessed to in the past but she doesn’t remember. Jiho looks upset and then flustered that she doesn’t remember (it’s only in ch 75 that we find out it’s actually him who confessed). However, this scene is completely overshadowed by Jiho stepping in to protect Yeoryong from an aggressive suitor.

Ch 46: On the train ride home, Jiho sits next to Dani and he teases her about her love life. This is after Dani got her fortune told about the car accident so I guess Jiho was trying to lighten the mood. But, again, it’s Jiho who is doing this, not Chunyeong. He even opens the conversation by referencing Eunhyung’s earlier phone conversation with Dani about how his mom died in a car accident. I know they’re all friends, but the closest friend Eunhyung has among the HK is Chunyeong so it would make sense for Chunyeong to open this topic, not Jiho.

Ch 47: Jiho takes Dani and Yeoryong home by car since Yeoryong’s aggressive suitor is waiting by the school gate while the rest of the HK deals with the suitor and his goons. He makes it a point to Dani that the car-accident fortune didn’t apply to him so she’ll be safe if he rides with him. He sternly warns Dani to be careful in the future. He glances every now and then at her while in the car. See? It’s these meaningful glances that he gives her that always made me question his feelings for her; whether it was just friendship or something else.

Ch 49: More interactions between Dani and Jiho… this time, because of an espresso machine. Chunyeong also wants a cup, but Jiho teases him since he doesn’t like bitter things. He is dumbfounded when not only does Chunyeong take a sip of coffee but he does so from Dani’s cup. (jealousy?)

Ch 51: Jiho is worried that Dani and Eunhyung aren’t back yet from their errand. He is so worried that he decides to go out to look for them but disguises it as a simple walk so as not to worry Yeoryong and Ju-in.

Ch 55: Yoryeong and the HK boys each send a text message to Dani, but it is Jiho’s message that is given emphasis (even tho the text message is played for laughs)

Ch 56: Jiho, Chunyeong, and Yoryeong make their way to Dani’s classroom. Jiho gives Dani text updates on how close they are getting to her classroom.

Ch 57: Dani and Ruda hide in one of the unused classrooms. They are of course found by the HK group but it is Jiho who reveals himself first.

Ch 60: Jiho questions Dani specifically why she was hugging Ruda in the corridor. This topic is quickly forgotten as they hear about Chunyeong who has gotten into a fight with Ruda in the men’s room.

Ch 63: Jiho escorts Dani home while the rest of HK group deal with the aggressive suitor and goons that caused Dani’s near-death by truck-kun.

Ch 66: Jiho refers to Dani’s house as “his” house too. It’s also been established in earlier chapters that Jiho maintains a friendly relationship with Dani’s parents. They watch a video of their middle school days, and everyone points out that Jiho had changed so much since then (ch 75 reveals he changed because of Dani). They continue to watch the video but are surprised by something. We see the group stunned to silence but, again, it is Jiho’s expression that is given importance by showing it in a solo panel.

Ch 67: The video continues! Dani walked in on Jiho as he was changing. Jiho is flustered while Dani is unfazed. He asked Dani, “Do you even see me as a man?” Dani replies, “Since when did was have a man and woman relationship?” (ouch) Σ( ￣□￣||) The video ends with Yoryeong calling Jiho a pervert.

Ch 68: No Jiho moment here, but a case of misdirection from the author and the FL just not getting it. Dani continues to watch the video on her own and sees the “something” that surprised the group earlier. It’s basically Cheonyong smiling at her. His expression is very sweet. While Dani thinks it’s nice that he can make that kind of expression, she isn’t convinced that it is romantic because of how novels or otome games usually go. The takeaway here is that she became conscious of Chunyeong but still didn’t find Jiho’s question (Do you see me as a man?) worth noticing. Poor Jiho… ╥﹏╥

Ch 69: Dani’s class pressures her into finding out what the HK’s class is doing for the retreat. Out of the group, she picks to call Jiho. His response to her is short and simple. After the call ends, he looks troubled at the notion of treating Dani like a stranger.

Ch 70: The freshmen are assembling for the school retreat. Jiho is obviously the first to spot her. He is worried that she might topple over unless she properly wakes up and then annoyed that Ruda came to support her. He then sends her a flurry of text messages telling her to wake up. He's about to send another text message but deletes it instead and asks Eunhyung if Dani would possibly sit next to Ruda on the bus. Eunhyung notices the expression he has so Jiho dismisses it as annoyance at how they had to go through 3 years for Dani to open up to them while Ruda easily got close to her. Eunhyung accepts this response but thinks to himself about how Jiho’s expression now is similar to the expression he had in the video (when he asked Dani the question). He also notes that while Jiho and Chunyeong had different expressions in the video, both of them gave off the same feeling. In other words, Eunhyung noticed that it’s not only Chunyeong who is harboring a crush on Dani. (≧∀≦)

Ch 74: The confession is teased again but this time implied that it is Dani who rejected Jiho’s confession. Of course, this is fully revealed in ch 75.

So, these are all the moments or subtle hints that I found. These moments are, again, greatly overshadowed by the amount of screen time Chunyeong and Dani have together. However, I think they are enough to plant that seed of doubt in the reader. “Are Jiho’s feelings towards Dani really just friendship?” That was the question I kept asking whenever those subtle moments happened. The important conversations he would have with her, the complexity of his expressions, the meaningful glances he gives her… It was all there, we just didn’t see it right away.

Perhaps the most obvious "evidence" we had but never realized was in ch 7. After Dani comes to the conclusion that she is in a novel and recognizes Yeoryong as the heroine, she picks out Jiho as the ML among the HK. There you go! Jiho was always the ML!

I understand why there’s a ship for Jiho and Yeoryong. They banter like cats and dogs, they’re competitive with each other, Jiho has on more than one occasion come to Yeoryong’s defense. He even calls himself her boyfriend in ch 72 to get rid of a persistent guy that’s pestering her. But it’s plain to see that they never saw each other romantically and only had a platonic relationship.

On that note, I also noticed the other ship of Eunhyung x Yeoryong also forming in the background. Think about it. Sure, Jiho was the first to step in to protect Yeoryong from the aggressive suitor in ch 45, but when the guy starts to get violent, it’s Eunhyung who steps in to defend her. Although Jiho pretended to be Yeoryong’s boyfriend in ch 72 to get rid of a persistent guy, it is Eunhyung who suggests that Yeoryong give out his own number if she is met by another guy who persistently asks for her number. I thought that it was just him being the protective friend until it dawned on me just how much of trouble he’s invited by doing this. Yup, he loves her. (≧∀≦)

Anyway, I haven’t read the rest of the spoilers other than the final ships. I kind of wish I didn’t because it somehow robbed me of naturally liking Jiho. I was already intrigued by his character but I had also fallen into the “Chunyeong is ML” trap, and I heard that the novel does let you naturally see Jiho’s struggle and love for Dani. What should have been a natural progression felt like a bucket of ice thrown at me because of one single spoiler. I’ve accepted it. I’ve gotten over it. I’ll continue to read it because, well, even without the spoiler I already felt that Jiho had a crush on Dani, I only wish I’d gotten there when the story was ready to take me there.

P.S. I didn’t read the spoilers here. It was on another site. The comment didn’t come with a spoiler tag. It was just “FL ends up with white hair. MC ends up with red hair. This is a spoiler.” I mean, who puts a spoiler warning after the actual spoiler??? (╬￣皿￣)凸


Anyway, thanks for reading this uber long post. (￣∇￣")